As I am sure you will agree 2017 was a fantastic year for Marconi Sailing Club. If you were at the AGM in early December you would have seen the positive vibe in the room from a variety of members touching all areas of our sailing club.
Highlights for 2017 included, our first Keelboat championships, a fantastic open day including a visit from Saskia Clark MBE, another successful Cadet Week, loads of sail training (now including adults), cruises all over the East Coast and to Holland, plenty of lunchtime pub trips for the Dinghy Cruisers and our biggest ECPR for quite some time…. WOW, that’s a lot and doesn’t cover it all by a long way. How did I forget the air guitars of the summer?
UPDATE – And now winning the 2017 Club of the Year Innovation Award – vote for us as overall RYA club of the year
As we head into 2018 we thought it would be good to highlight what’s coming in 2018 for our members. So here goes…
- 7 yacht cruises
- 8 sail training days
- 2 learn to wind surf days
- 10 Saturday dinghy cruises
- Our 31st East Coast Piers Race
- 5 one off races
- 8 social events lead by our Social Divas including the annual dinner dance on the 3rd Feb (no wetsuits please)
- 60 points races (includes Bank Holiday racing)
- 5 visiting fleets
- 31 camping nights
Remember the club also has a number of club boats, 4 paddle boards and 4 kayaks available to use. They are all available on a first come first served basis with the kit being stored in the containers. Maybe you can try something different in 2018?
2018 starts (hopefully) this weekend with a dinghy cruise and then with our turn to host the local rowing gigs at Marconi where the bar and galley will be open. Maybe 2018 will be the year you join our rowers on Elettra, our very own rowing gig.
The next event after this weekend is the annual Dinner Dance in February, then we’ll be full speed into March and the water based sailing activities.
Download the 2018 Marconi Sailing Club Sailing Calendar for all of the club events planned.
Highlights by Month
Our calendar of events expands every year and it’s impossible to cover everything in a quick summary article, please do download the full calendar and have a look at what’s coming this year. Here are just some highlights per month.
January
- 7th January – Harkers Yard Rowing Gig event at Marconi
- 20th January – RNLI Rowing Race in Maldon just in front of the Little Ships Club
February
- 3rd February – Dinner Dance at the Lion Inn, Boreham, Chelmsford
March
- 3rd and 4th March – RYA Dinghy Show at Alexandra Palace in London
- 25th March – the start of club racing
April
- 7th April – Sprint 15 Training Day
- 14th and 15th April – Sprint 15 Event
- 14th April – J80 Keelboat Championships
- 28th April – Cruiser Fitting Out Supper
May
- 5th May – Sail Training 2
- 13th May – Figure of Eight Race around Northey and Osea
- 16th May – The first of the evening pursuit races on a Wednesday night
- 26th May – Marconi SC Open Day
- 26th May – BJRC Race 2
- 26th May – Cruiser Cruise to Harwich starts
June
- 2nd June – Dinghy Cruise from MSC
- 8th June – Sunset sail starting at 7pm
- 16th June – Cruiser Cruise to France starts
- 16th June – Summer Social
- 23rd June – BJRC 4
July
- 7th and 8th July – all hands on deck for our biggest event of the year, the East Coast Piers Race
- 14th and 15th July – Watercress Run to Heybridge
- 21st July – Windsurfing for beginners day
- 28th July – 12th August – Camping Fortnight (pre booking required)
- 30th July – 4th August – Cadet Week
August
- 3rd August – Cadet Week Karaoke
- 17th August – Final Sunset Sail from 7pm
- 18th August – Windsurfing for beginners day
- 25th August – Sail Training 6
September
- 1st September – Topper Coaching Event
- 1st September – Powerboat Refresher Training
- 8th and 9th September – Topper National Series Event at Marconi (all hands on deck to help)
- 16th September – Pilots Cup
- 23rd September – Barts Bash
October
- 7th October – Monas Cup
- 28th October – Final Fling Race
November
- 11th November – Autumn Working Party
- 25th November – AGM and Prize Giving
December
- Time to relax or do the decorating….